Diary

• All change at Chris Grayling's Ministry of Justice. And now the differences are becoming apparent. Take compensation for crime victims. The ministry introduced a draft order in September to alter the criminal injuries compensation scheme. It would take away the right to compensation from those suffering minor injuries, presently awarded between £1,000 and £2,000, and reduce other categories. The first draft order sent to the delegated legislation committee took a battering. John Redwood, hardly a bleeding heart, complained it "would cut back on payments to people who are vulnerable and have just been through a bad time in their lives for no good reason". Members expected substantial changes, but when the draft returned, the introduction of a hardship fund of about £500,000 was the only difference. Still, the measure passed. What changed? The main change was the committee itself. For Redwood, Angie Bray and Jonathan Evans were replaced by John Howell (private secretary to Voldemort Lansley), Jessica Lee, (PPS to Dominic Grieve) and Lee Scott (PPS to Chris Grayling). For the Lib Dems Tessa Munt, (PPS to Vince Cable) sat with the government. And the government got what it wanted; clawing back compo from victims of crime. Like magic, really.

• A week until the police commissioner elections that nobody much wanted and a whole new era of accountability that nobody really understands. Not much focus on Norfolk thus far, but a rich mix there has been made richer still with the candidature of the Tory James Athill. Who he? He left the army as a colonel last year, having led British and Gurkha units and commanded a training regiment. He also held "diplomatic and operational positions in the Middle East, south-east Asia and, most recently, central Europe". It's the diplomatic stuff in central Europe that's exciting interest. Fingers in quite a few pies, has the candidate, and though his website is exhaustive, one thing not immediately apparent there is his grand and curious title of UK territorial director for the CSOK, the Czech Middle Asian Chamber of Commerce. What's that, asked a curious voter. Oh, it's innocuous, said Athill. It's about British firms trading in new markets via the Czech Republic. Then why didn't you declare it on campaign literature? Well, it's on my LinkedIn page, he said. And I did tell the Tories before they selected me. Might have been nice, in the new era of accountability, if he had mentioned it to the electorate. For he was the defence attache at the British embassy in Prague. And among the activities proclaimed by CSOK are industrial and defence undertakings in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Libya. Nice chap, apparently, but people watch James Bond, Tinker Tailor. In a vacuum they think all sorts of things.

• Many questions surround the death last week of Prince Ofosu, a 31-year-old Ghanaian, at the Harmondsworth immigration removal centre near Heathrow. There were protests outside this week amid reports that Ofosu had been forcibly restrained and was taken to the isolation cells the day before he died. The prisons and probation ombudsman has launched an investigation into the sixth death at the facility since 1989. The Geo group, which runs the centre, is the second largest for-profit prison operator in the US. This year it was the recipient of a UK Border Agency supplier award for making Harmondsworth "a safe and secure place for detainees, staff and visitors". Not the least of the questions is whether they'll have to send the bauble back.

• Away from the domestic spotlight, meanwhile, an important, long-running and hard fought employment tribunal case is under way. Academic Ronnie Fraser says the University and College Union is "institutionally antisemitic". It strongly denies it is any such thing. The case has worldwide attention, and Fraser is supported by more than 30 witnesses, including the Booker prizewinning novelist Howard Jacobson. One star witness gave his long-awaited evidence today, though the timing was unfortunate and some doubted that he would fulfil the engagement. Still, the tribunal listened attentively to Denis MacShane.

• Suitably attentive types also made their way to the World Travel Market extravaganza at London's Excel centre, not least for the debate on tourism and child protection. The session's sponsors: the BBC.